Essay – Increasing threats of disasters in urban areas
Introduction-
Contents
According to a United Nations report, by 2050 about 66 to 70% of the world population will live in cities. Presently the urban population of India is about 461 million people and it is growing at the rate of 2.3% every year. These cities contribute 63% to the Indian GDP but urban management and disaster proofing became an important issue for these urban settlements.
Need of urbanisation-
Urbanisation is required to address many social and economic issues like-
- It develops the social infrastructure of an area and leads to a better lifestyle and outcomes for the population.
- Urbanisation involves the creation of health infrastructure and it ensures the general availability of healthcare services which results in improvement of health outcomes.
- It also reduces the social divisions in the society as the importance of caste identity decreases with urbanisation.
- The rate of poverty is lower in urban areas as compared to the rural areas.
- It helps in government generation and creation of industries.
- It also leads to the development of digital infrastructure through internet connectivity and of digital media.
- Better urban planning and development also generates investor interest in the nation.
Challenges with urbanisation-
But there are many challenges associated with urbanisation especially from an environmental and disaster management perspective. Like-
- Infrastructural problems- there is a large-scale migration from rural areas to urban areas which is increasing pressure on the urban resources and increasing its vulnerability for any type of disasters. Nearly 17% of the Indians live in slums in the urban areas. Such situations increase cases like fire accidents, building collapse etc.
- Environmental issues- Due to less adoption of public transport the high income individuals are buying more private vehicles which is the leading cause of traffic jams and air pollution in urban settlements. The rapid growth of inadequate and poorly planned expansion of cities makes the urban populations vulnerable to the effect of climate change. These areas become more vulnerable to flash floods, man made earthquakes etc.
- Reducing green cover- the rapid and unplanned growth of cities is leading to large scale deforestation and concretisation of the urban settlements. It not only degrades the air quality of the place but also hampers the natural geological cycle of the environment. Because of this, natural events like coastal floods, cyclones etc get aggravated. There is an increase in the number of deaths because of heat waves and cold waves.
- Water issues- according to a report by the Asian development Bank nearly 50% of India’s total land area will face a water deficit by 2030. There is an increase in drinking water crisis in urban cities and also an increase is witnessed in water borne diseases. Because of large scale extraction of groundwater and less seepage and replenishment through rainfall urban areas are becoming more and more water deficient. Many of the times this situation leads to droughts and famines because of less availability of water for agricultural production and crop failures.
- Wildlife- because of large scale urbanisation and deforestation the wild animals are devoid of their natural habitat. Because of this there is an increase in the number or cases of human animal conflict. Numerous deaths are reported every year because of man animal conflict.
- Industrial issues- because of excessive pressure on natural resources most of the industrial settlements operate in a compromised situation regarding human safety. In most of the cases safety measures are not taken properly which is the leading cause of industrial accidents and death.
- Health issues- in urban areas and the slums surrounding the urban areas healthcare management is an important issue. For example in the Covid 19 pandemic numerous deaths were reported from dharavi slums. The major reason behind that was poor living conditions and no social distancing practised in the congested slum areas. This is also an increase witnessed in the cases of heart and respiratory ailments because of the poor environment and lifestyle conditions.
- Social unrest- because of deeper penetration of digital media there are increasing number of incidents of false news which is a major reason of incidents like mob lynching, social tensions etc.
Disaster management measures in urban areas-
- Urban planning- all the urban settlements should be developed in a planned manner while considering sustainability and resource management as a top priority. Disaster resilience should be included in all modern infrastructure development. Renewable sources of energy should be used for addressing the ever increasing energy requirements and all the 3 R’s i.e. reduce, reuse and recycle should be implemented to reduce the ecological footprint of the human race.
- Coastal regulations- the coastal regulation norms should be implemented to reduce the stress on coastal districts and any kind of man and material loss due to cyclones. Regulated fishing activities should be permitted to ensure the sustainability of marine ecosystems.
- Pollution regulations- strict measures like banning high pollution vehicles, building demolition norms, adoption of renewable sources of energy etc. should be adopted to keep a check on the rising pollution levels. Technological innovations like Pusa decomposer to deal with paddy straw, rotavators etc should be adopted for sustainable agriculture.
- Green cover- urban forestry and afforestation measures should be promoted to maintain a required forest cover in urban areas. Miyawaki techniques of urban forestry should be promoted to encourage backyard forestry.
- Disaster resilience measures- disaster resilience measures like fire proofing, emergency exits, early warning systems etc should be inculcated to minimise the loss in case of any natural or man made disaster.
- Training and awareness- the national disaster response force should be trained well and must be equipped with the latest technological equipment to deal with any contrary situation. More focus should be on prevention and prediction models of disasters and early response.
- Healthcare- government should increase expenditure on the health care services up to 2.5% of the GDP. Primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services should be extended to the rural sections of the society also.
- Infrastructure development- there should be a focus on infrastructure development in rural areas to decrease the rural to urban migration. Industries should be established for employment generation in remote areas.
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